A location-based service is an information or entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through a mobile network. Such a location-based service generally uses the geographical location of the mobile device. The first location-based services were introduced in Europe and included services to locate friends, advertisers, and a caller seeking emergency services. Recent advancements in global positioning systems (GPS), mobile-network operator, and GPS independent techniques have led to a plethora of location-based services including those that provide recommended social events, show the present location of people of interest on a map, turn-by-turn directions to a given address or the nearest business or service. Some other location-based services provide alerts, advertising, or seek real-time feedback from the owner of the mobile device concerning traffic, restaurants, services or other venues registered or otherwise known to the location-based service.
A category of social media tools enable people to use GPS-enabled mobile devices to “check-in” at different locations. Some of these social media tools incorporate a game aspect or offer other enticements to encourage their use. The user of the mobile device uses a browser to visit a website that provides the social media location-based service. The user can “check-in” when they visit a venue as confirmed by the geographical information provided by a mobile device embedded GPS circuit or other provider techniques. The typical check-in process requires the user to open an application on their mobile device, search for the location or venue to determine if it has been registered or is otherwise known to the location-based service, and actively request to “check-in” to the location.
For some location-based social media tools, if the location of the user's mobile device cannot be determined as being within a pre-determined range of the venue, the user is prevented from checking in at the venue. This can occur when the mobile device is indoors or the embedded GPS circuit/service is presently disabled on the mobile device. When the location of the mobile device cannot be confirmed, the user must move to a location with better reception, and/or enable the GPS circuit and wait for confirmation of the device's present location, or for the mobile service provider to otherwise confirm that the phone is within the accepted range for the user to be considered to be at the venue.
However interested the user is in completing a “check-in” operation when they visit a particular venue, some users are unable to because of the absence of location information. Other user may simply forget that they have to actively use their mobile device while near the venue to “check-in.” In still other cases, users are just too busy to take the time to reach into their pocket to complete the required steps to initiate a “check-in” request with the social media web site. In addition to these problems with the check-in process, use of these social media tools has become so popular and in some cases so competitive that some users are starting to complain of “check-in” fatigue.
At least one social media tool, Google Latitude®, enables its users to automatically “check-in” at user specified locations when a mobile device running Google® Maps and Google Latitude® is confirmed to be in close proximity to the specified location. Google® and Google Latitude® are registered trademarks of Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., U.S.A. For iPhone® users that have downloaded and installed the next generation operating system, which enables applications to run in a background mode, there is an application available that allows users to automatically “check-in” to their favorite locations when they are in close proximity to them. iPhone® is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., U.S.A. The Google Latitude® auto check-in service has also been adapted to work with mobile devices enabled by the open source operating system, middleware and applications commonly known as “Android.” These attempts to automate the “check-in” process are dependent upon specific combinations of mobile device hardware, operating system, and/or mobile application software. It is often the case that a user of a social network interested in an automated solution to the check-in process does not have a combination of hardware, operating system, and/or mobile application software that is capable of accomplishing an automated check-in.